catalavaino Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any insight into how the admissions reading process works, behind closed doors? Do individual adcom readers read a random bundle first, just filing people into general categories for discussion later? Do a few key readers read all applications, then send appropriate apps to potential POIs to read in depth? I'm sure this also differs by school. I really have no idea but am curious if anyone has thoughts beyond speculation. I don't know how relevant this is to those not applying to Ohio State, but I found the description of the admissions process on their site to be pretty helpful as I worked on statements: https://english.osu.edu/graduate-studies/admissions-info/prospective-phd About halfway down the page, the DGS explains the sorting and reading process. I would imagine (maybe?) that several schools take this approach. This seems to be an altogether different approach than Texas, for example, whose site makes it clear that application reading is department wide and across disciplines. jhefflol, hypervodka and Dr. Old Bill 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Old Bill Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 To Brown applicants: when you check your application, what message do you get? Mine says 'Awaiting Materials', and when I scroll down the checklist, under 'TOEFL scores' it says 'Awaiting'. I'm international, but don't need to submit TOEFL/IELTS scores (I'm from an English-speaking country). Is this likely just to be an error that the adcomm will ignore? Or should I contact the Graduate School? I'm worried they'll see the 'Awaiting' bit and just not look at my app, even though a quick glance would show that the scores aren't needed! I would contact the department ASAP. I just checked my application, and there's nothing in the field you mention -- everything looks complete. omensetter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omensetter Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I would contact the department ASAP. I just checked my application, and there's nothing in the field you mention -- everything looks complete. Thanks for such a quick response, and for taking the time to check your own app! I've emailed the graduate admissions people. Brown's my top choice, so I'm especially anxious to make sure everything's in order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Old Bill Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Thanks for such a quick response, and for taking the time to check your own app! I've emailed the graduate admissions people. Brown's my top choice, so I'm especially anxious to make sure everything's in order. My pleasure! I definitely know the feeling. On my Cornell app, the GRE scores show as "pending." I contacted their admin personnel about it a couple of months ago, and they corrected it. Then I checked again last month, and it showed up as pending yet again, and I contacted them once more. They assured me that everything was fine on their end, so it must just be a software glitch on the student interface side of things. Hopefully this TOEFL issue will be of the similar variety for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel_kaye13 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 To Brown applicants: when you check your application, what message do you get? Mine says 'Awaiting Materials', and when I scroll down the checklist, under 'TOEFL scores' it says 'Awaiting'. I'm international, but don't need to submit TOEFL/IELTS scores (I'm from an English-speaking country). Is this likely just to be an error that the adcomm will ignore? Or should I contact the Graduate School? I'm worried they'll see the 'Awaiting' bit and just not look at my app, even though a quick glance would show that the scores aren't needed! I second all the other recommendations: better to check than not. I have something similar with my program, which made me have a mini-hyperventilation, since I'd already submitted all my documents. I talked to the point-of-contact for my departmental office, and she assured me not to worry, that they had a very small staff sifting through, etc. If only for your personal sanity, it's better to check in and make sure that everything is done, and done well. Don't come across freaking out, but professionally checking up, they will most certainly respect your position and reason for doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katla Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks hreaóemus and Wyatt's Torch, you've silenced the nervous voice in my head Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sillyrabbit Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Someone posted an Emory interview today in the RESULTS...I didn't apply to Emory, but crazy that results are coming back already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypervodka Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) Emory's interview acceptance came out today! Good luck everyone! I'm ecstatic--but have no idea how in the world to prepare for the interview, especially since so few schools do them. Edited January 7, 2015 by hypervodka Dr. Old Bill, 1Q84, queennight and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Old Bill Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) Emory's interview acceptance came out today! Good luck everyone! I'm ecstatic--but have no idea how in the world to prepare for the interview, especially since so few schools do them. First of all...congrats! Second of all...I've been thinking about this, in the unlikely event that I were to get called for an interview by any of my prospective schools. What I would do is bone up on the ins and outs of the faculty members of the field you are interested in. Get a solid understanding of their publications and their perspectives, if possible. The more familiar you are with the kind of work they are doing, the more it will demonstrate that you have a vested interest in the field AND Emory in particular. The usual "take this with a grain of salt" caveat applies, of course, and maybe some former Emory interviewees will be able to chime in here to give a better first-hand account. But I have to imagine that "fit" and "demonstrated knowledge of field" have to be two of the bigger checklist items in an interview like this. Good luck! Edited January 7, 2015 by Wyatt's Torch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sillyrabbit Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Emory's interview acceptance came out today! Good luck everyone! I'm ecstatic--but have no idea how in the world to prepare for the interview, especially since so few schools do them. Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HesseBunuel90 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 hypervodka: how did you get the interview call? Via email/phone call etc? I hope that does not mean that I was automatically rejected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katla Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) Emory's interview acceptance came out today! Good luck everyone! I'm ecstatic--but have no idea how in the world to prepare for the interview, especially since so few schools do them. That's almost equal parts scary and amazing, congratulations hypervodka! Edited January 7, 2015 by Katla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hreaðemus Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 That's almost equal parts scary and amazing, congratulations hypervodka! I second this!!! It's all getting so REAL... TeaOverCoffee and Dr. Old Bill 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sillyrabbit Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Just checked last year's Emory interview notification dates, and this year's came a week early...am I reading too much into this? (probably) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypervodka Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 First of all...congrats! Second of all...I've been thinking about this, in the unlikely event that I were to get called for an interview by any of my prospective schools. What I would do is bone up on the ins and outs of the faculty members of the field you are interested in. Get a solid understanding of their publications and their perspectives, if possible. The more familiar you are with the kind of work they are doing, the more it will demonstrate that you have a vested interest in the field AND Emory in particular. The usual "take this with a grain of salt" caveat applies, of course, and maybe some former Emory interviewees will be able to chime in here to give a better first-hand account. But I have to imagine that "fit" and "demonstrated knowledge of field" have to be two of the bigger checklist items in an interview like this. Good luck! It feels like I've been studying for six months straight at this point... so I guess another two weeks of cramming can't hurt... hypervodka: how did you get the interview call? Via email/phone call etc? I hope that does not mean that I was automatically rejected. It was via email. It was BCC'd, though, I'm not sure how many people were emailed. They said sixteen people would be selected, but I don't know if they have chosen them all. I wish you SO MUCH luck. queennight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fancypants09 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Congrats hypervodka! Good luck on your interview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queennight Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Emory's interview acceptance came out today! hypervodka 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drownsoda Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Ick, my final deadline is January 13th, so I'm not quite done like many of you. My other deadlines were all before January 8th, so I'm sort of flipping out right now myself over those (my dream school's deadline was on Wednesday... *shudders*). I've made it a point NOT to look at anything on my applications after I've submitted them because I know I will go into a hysterical spiral if I do. That said, my email is enough torture for me at the moment. It's only been a week and a half since I submitted my first application, and every time I see I have something in my inbox, I'm like 1Q84, Dr. Old Bill, bgt28 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgt28 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Courtney for life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drownsoda Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Courtney is my spirit animal, hahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Q84 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Can we just fast forward three weeks, please? queennight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drownsoda Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Can we just fast forward three weeks, please? Seriously. Mid-February is when my dream program starts sending out responses, so I'm going to be a hot mess here coming up. I feel I'll be relying on the support of other Gradcafers more and more as the judgment day approaches. 1Q84 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhefflol Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Can we just fast forward three weeks, please? Agree. I went through 60 pages of the results for English today. That involved a lot of heavy/anxious breathing. Good news is that someone from last cycle had the same GRE scores as me (except I have a better GPA and a slightly higher subject score) and he/she got in to at least 1 program! There is hope! queennight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sillyrabbit Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Agree. I went through 60 pages of the results for English today. That involved a lot of heavy/anxious breathing. Good news is that someone from last cycle had the same GRE scores as me (except I have a better GPA and a slightly higher subject score) and he/she got in to at least 1 program! There is hope! I've been there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sillyrabbit Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I still find it super weird that this year's GC cohort is super small...I thought that maybe once applications ended, more people would come out of the dark...I guess not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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